Blairsville, Georgia, (high 77, low 61)
A cold front is approaching, bringing rain tonight, and cooler temps Monday. I’m watching the weather carefully and apprehensively, because this is the same storm front that brought the tornados in the Midwest.
At least, ex-Tropical Storm Karen is dying out and not expected to do anything but bring rain along the gulf coast.
We are supposed to have overnight lows into the mid to low 40’s. Burrrrrr…..that’s about the temperature our heat pump stops and we have to start using the noisy furnace. For some reason, the two propane companies here will fill up one of their propane tanks, but will not fill up the tank of a motor home. So….we might have to use our extend-a-stay kit. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our spare propane tanks….
I think we’ll go ahead and get out the electric blankets. We have one on our bed and another one on the couch for the kitties. They seem to have thin blood like we do and they get pretty chilly. The daytime temperatures, will be in the low 70’s, so the weather should still be very nice.
Fall in the mountains brings a lot of fall festivals, and we went to one of the biggest yesterday.
It was at the J.C. Campbell Folk School, which is just up the road about 30 miles in Murphy, NC. We had heard it was a big event, and it sure was.
The school offers a lot of unusual classes, like blacksmithing, basket making, wood carving, quilting, pottery, photography, and even mushroom dying for anyone who ever wanted to learn how to dye a mushroom!
Yesterday, we went there for the 40th annual folk festival. There were over 200 vendors selling beautiful hand made arts and crafts, and we enjoyed seeing all the beautiful artwork.
There were live bands, a clogging demonstration (which we really enjoyed), blacksmith, quilting, and wood carving demonstrations, and much, much more.
You could easily have spent a fortune if, you had plenty of money and space to store things!
We got out of there with only two purchases.
One purchase was a walking stick for me.
The other was this sign that Al liked. He thought it would look nice over the front door of the cabin.
We walked around for several hours, admiring all the beautiful crafts.
I left my camera in the car (on purpose) and didn’t get pictures of anything, but it was a beautiful setting with mountains all around and the beginnings of the fall colors.
Afterwards, we went into the town of Murphy for lunch.
We had heard that ShoeBooties Cafe was the place to go in town. It turned out to be really good, but really busy and it took quite a while to waited on, and then to get our food. We had a really good waitress, so we patiently waited. By the time we left, there was a 20 minute wait to be seated. We think they may have been short a waitress or two, and maybe even a cook.
Murphy, has a pretty little downtown area that has been re-vitalized, and it appears to be thriving. There were flowers everywhere.
Our plan, was to go to the museum that had information about the Cherokee Indians and the Trail of Tears.
Unfortunately, it was closed on Saturday, so we’ll have to go another time.
Here’s something, we found unusual.
This is a box where you can drop off old medications.
We thought this was a good idea, since flushing pills down the toilet is bad for the environment. Then, I wondered about old narcotic type pills? I bet the addicts would love this box?
Then I realized, where the box was located.
Right in front of the police station, and there was a video camera aimed right at the box!
Another re-purposed mail box.
I’m not sure you can read the box, but it was to dispose of worn American flags. What a great idea!
We wandered around town a while, then headed back home.
We had a busy week, so we’re going to stay home today and do some bird watching around here. We’re seeing some different birds, which are apparently migrating.
This new little bird has come this morning. We’re not sure what he is? Any ideas, Judy? There were a lot of birds that looked similar in our bird book.
The pictures were taken through our dirty windows, so they weren’t the best.
His breast is a little reddish, and the photos sure look like his feet are blue.
That's a rose-breasted grosbeak. Probably a female, but could be a young bird from this year's nesting.
ReplyDeleteJust knew Judy would have the answer for you. You did good - only two purchases. Jim used to be a clogger. He enjoyed square dancing more but his good friend needed a clogging partner so he went. Hope the storms by pass you.
ReplyDeleteWe met a guy at Woody's yesterday who was telling us about this great RV park in Blairsville :). We will have to get up there next year.
ReplyDeleteYou can always count on Judy to know what bird you're seeing. She's quite the talented lass and knowledgeable birder, not bad for a former math teacher. :cD
ReplyDeleteKeeping the MH propane tank full in the cooler weather is always a challenge. We have the extend a stay kit, too and a tank lasts us 3-4 days in cool weather. Sure beats packing up and moving the MH.
That is the first medicine drop I have seen. I guess it is a good idea? I think you can drop off unwanted meds at the chain pharmacies, as well
ReplyDeleteYou really have some great things near you there in the mountains. I've studied autoharp at the folk arts school in W. VA and always wanted to go to Campbell. What a nice area you picked for your second home. David and I did clogging MANY years ago. I reallly enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI think that medicine drop is a good idea. I called the health dept a few years ago to find out where I could take my old meds and they told me there was nothing available. They told me to mix my meds in used wet coffee grounds and then just dispose of them in the regular garbage. I don't see how that's any better for the ground water than flushing them down the toilet! So, I like the drop idea. The flag drop too...that's a wonderful use of an old mailbox.
ReplyDeleteJudy came thru again with the bird ID.
ReplyDeleteNice to find a good restaurant with good service, and do love those markets.